Which decade made the best race cars

[jamcg]

As per title. Miks poll of the rally cars made me contemplate that the 90’s road car based cars in wrc, touring cars, and also dedicated race cars were the coolest.

Wrc had the battle of Subaru vs Mitsubishi and the celica gt4 bending the rules massively
Touring cars had regular saloons with arch gaps stance guys could only dream of, my favourite was the Laguna’s



Le Mans had the 787B, Toyota gt1 and the the Nissan R90CK over boosting the engine to huge power. F1 started with Ferrari v12’s and ended with v10’s

So yeah I’m voting 90’s, but that may be because it’s when I was first getting into watching cars gojng quickly

[jamcg]

Also I’m aware I’ve posted this in the wrong place ffs

[mik]

As the 80’s was GrpB and then GrpA - it’s cemented in my mind as the pinnacle. 90’s was feckin good too - just now as good (for me).

[RobYob]

90s had an F1 winning lemans, a Viper winning N24 and an FD RX7 winning Bathurst 12 hour.

[jamcg]

As the 80’s was GrpB and then GrpA - it’s cemented in my mind as the pinnacle. 90’s was feckin good too - just now as good (for me).

In which case, some pinnacle 80’s race car porn for you

[integrale_evo]

Can I have 1986 - 1996 please?

The end of group B, the coolest group A cars (integrale, escort cosworth, Impreza, several versions of the mitsi evo. Cossehs, e30 m3 and merc 190 2.3/2.5 and evo versions in dtm, plus the coolest of the dad spec rep mobiles turned into slammed to the floor, big wheeled doorbashers in btcc / stw / jtcc and their like. At her notable mentions, F40, maclaren F1, r32 skyline. Idk. Loads more I can probably think of.

I think if we’re being strict I’d have to go 90s, should just about capture late examples of the ones I like from the 80s.

[Jobbo]

I voted 90s but had thought the Audi 90 IMSA GTO was 90s and it turns out it’s 89. So I think Harry’s 86-96 is probably more accurate. Though they misses the GT1 years at Le Mans so maybe 1988-98 or 1989-99 for me.

[Nefarious]

Controversially, I've gone for 70s, although I really mean late-60s-early 70s.

Obviously, the 80s and 90s are stacked with way *cooler* stuff as you've all mentioned, and modern era stuff is way faster, but that 60s/70s period was the pinnacle of what was conceivably possible by blokes in sheds, and I think that's what makes best racing.

If I had to choose a single car to run and race against identical opposition, I think a Lotus Type 72 would probably be it. Knocking on the door of 1000bhp/ton but purely mechanical, before an era when competitive speed was determined by men in white coats far removed from the grime of the pit lane. A time when a genuinely good idea could come from anywhere in the team, not just an incremental improvement at the end of a long process of computer simulations.